Hurricane Rita Horsey story #54

Subject: horsey stories #54

Gehrig won by a nostril. He was very proud of himself. He loved his peppermints.
RIta the hurricane threatened our RV site with flooding therefore we packed up our RV and left. Electricity is essential to the equipment Steve needs to breath comfortably. Our travels around the USA have introduced us to various casinos and their RV parks. We have learned their secret: Generators. They turn them on when traditional electric sources turn off. Therefore we hightailed it to the Indian Casino in Marksville, Louisiana. We road out the storm.
Casino's also have excellent gourmet restaurants with white table cloths. Therefore thusly an opportunity to celebrate September, two wins by our horses and our 45th ANNIVERSARY. Steve had $230 from his winning ticket at the races and insisted after dinner that he had enough energy to play a few slot machines. I said OK but you have to quit when you double your money. I pushed the cash out button on his machine when it hit $500 and Steve reluctantly followed me to the exit. Just as we came to the door, the lights flickered and in unison the players moaned OOOh. Seconds later the generator kicked on and everyone return to their machines. We continued to the hotel area of the casino to pick up our car. No lights there. The bellmen had flashlights and were attempting to rescue people from the elevators. We learned another secret. The Casino generator works instantly, all others require maintenance personnel.
We called Sam after Rita passed. All of the horses were safe and in the stables in Carencro. Last week he hired a driver. Bob is one of our friends who lost his job in New Orleans. Smart move considering how many horses Sam had to shuffle.
Hurricane Rita flooded the small town Vinton on the Texas Louisiana boarder. The Louisiana race track, Delta Downs is there and scheduled to open mid-Oct. We think the damage there will be minimal more later...

Horsey Stories #162

Dixie Blaze will be # 8 in the 1st race at Evangeline Down Thursday May 13 at about 5:30 pm Please cheer as loud as you can. She has a chance. Her jockey loves her and so does everyone else she is a charming horse.

She's a Bandit will be in the 9th race at Evangeline Downs on May 14 at about 9:00. We call her Baby Bandit. She has already won her first race. After claiming her last year her new owners had no luck at all getting her to run. Judy said that the Evangeline track was not very kind to the muscles of the horses. Her owners signed her back over to Chris, and he took her off the track for 6 months He let her stay on the farm and run with the mares for a while to see if he could get her healthy enough to return to the races. Terry has been working with her as well.

Saturday: Royal Snow returned to the races and came in 4th. A tiny sign that farm therapy is helping.

If I haven't sent this to you before, here is the link to the Disney movie trailer for Secretariat. It does not contain the scene where I was an extra. I thought it was interesting that they took the story from Penny Cheney's point of view. The book by William Nack is really the story of the horse and I couldn't figure out how they would make a Disney film from the book. Maybe I've never seen horse racing as a gender biased sport, but then I didn't really pay attention until 1996.

Terry's Foal

We didn't have a foal this year so I had to take pictures of Terry's

Horsey stories #160

Photo: Spreading the News with Chris

Dixie Blaze is #2 in the 3rd race at Evangeline Downs at about 7:00 on Thursday April 29th.

Chris hopes she has figured out the concept of racing. Terry hopes she enjoys running. Kaye hopes she is in the money and we all hope she wins.

Breeding has its detail challenges.

Spreading the News just started her cycle so Chris and Terry loaded her up and took her to Dr. Barrone for her culture test to be sure she is ready to become a mama. She also had her Cogins test which is required when she goes to visit a handsome stallion. When she came back I made Chris walk her around for the camera. She whinnied her messages to the other mares in the field as loud as she could and the proceeded to gobble up huge bites of grass while Chris brushed her coat and I snapped a dozen photos. This is her second year without a foal so hopefully she is anxious to be a mama and ready for breeding. We will take her to the stallion as soon as her tests are read.

Acadia is alive with Spring festivals. Saturday we went to the Etouffe festival in Arnaudville. Took home our crawfish etouffe box lunch and finished the generous portions late Sunday. Sunday we went to Lafayette to the Festival International in Lafayette and I giggled myself silly at the Circus Punk Marching Band from Chicago. We set up 2 camp chairs under a tree and in perfect alignment with a cool breeze. We took turns on the chairs and enjoyed the music. The Irish band "Lunasa' was fabulous. Chris liked the Zydeco band and my friend Suzanne liked the Salsa band.

Buzzing Bayou

Buzz is 18 months old in this picture

Timely News

Timely News ran today at the Fairgrounds.  Somehow she made a bad step, fell and broke her left leg. She had to be put down.  Her odds were 2/1 so the handicappers felt she had a good chance of winning the race. She ran third in her previous race.

Sam Breaux sounded very broken hearted when I spoke to him on the phone.  Sam and Al and Melody Helms were her owners. I had to turn over my half of her ownership to Sam when Steve passed away because I couldn't afford a training bill.  Chris and I decided to just take care of the mares we had at the farm.  I will tell her little sister and her mama tomorrow.

Horsey stories #158

In the happiest state in the Union On Dec. 20, 2009 at the Fairgrounds in New Orleans She's a Bandit is #2 in race 2 at about 12:45.

I have a friend who goes to the Fairground to eat and to be with friends, but he doesn't care much about gambling.  He takes his $60 and before the races starts he buys a $2 ticket for win, place, and show for horse #1 in race #1 horse #2 in race #2 etc.  I sure hope he wins on She's a Bandit who will be #2 in race #2 on Sunday and pays for his delicious meal.  

Chris and I loved this link. we know you will love it too. 

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html#comments